Cultural Life: Transformative impacts of arts, culture and creativity

Making informed and effective investments in arts and culture creates a rich cultural life for Australia

Factsheet 7 drawn from ANA’s 2019 Insight Report, ‘Transformative: Impacts of culture and creativity’

A rich cultural life generates positive impacts for individuals, communities, societies and economies. A strong creative culture provides opportunities for sharing cultures and values, supporting existing and new forms of artistic and cultural expression, experiencing diverse voices and perspectives, and developing and maintaining national and local cultural heritage. Culture is key to both personal development and developing a cohesive society.

Arts and culture provide pathways to imagining different worlds and expressing divergent views – offering implicit invitations for understanding and connection.

That’s why we need to be systematic and strategic about developing a strong, rich cultural life that connects and celebrates the many facets of our nation.

The need to deliberately build a rich cultural life

Most of us appreciate arts and culture in some form. In 2016-17, 82.4% of us attended cultural venues and events, and about a third of us created, produced or collaborated in making some form of art. However, our access to specific kinds of arts and culture is often connected to our location and socioeconomic background.

Common barriers include:

These barriers also compound each other, further impacting access. For example, the cost of mainstream cultural consumption is generally 200–500% higher in regional communities (compared to in cities). In remote locations, the cost of consuming mainstream culture is up to 1,300% higher than in cities. Therefore, if you live in a regional, rural or remote part of Australia, you’re more likely to experience all of these barriers.

Research indicates that investing in programs and activities that ensure all Australians have opportunities to access a broad variety of arts and cultural experiences from a young age, irrespective of their family’s location or financial position, can help to break down social inequities.

What does a rich national cultural life look like?

A rich national cultural life is exemplified by:

• significant engagement with arts and cultural activities across the population
• recognition that Australia’s arts and cultural terrain is enriched by diversity, and particularly by the important and ongoing contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across all forms of artistic and cultural expression
• minimal barriers to arts and cultural participation
• access to a wide range of arts and cultural activities, including options relevant to diverse audiences
• supportive economic environments that successfully sustain arts and culture practitioners and producers.